Happy Birthday:

Bracelets:

The bracelets on my arm seem to keep piling up these days. And the best part is that they are all from some great trip or have special meaning:

1. Italy 2011 – my friend Kat went to Florence this past spring and brought back bracelets for the Order (sort of a tradition with us – more on that later).
2. From Lauren’s (also part of the Order) shoelace project – a project designed to bring awareness to the plight of the North Korean people. Needless to say I’m very proud of her and supportive of her passion for others.
3. Ireland 2009 – the bracelet I brought home from our adventures in Ireland for the Order.
4. A piece of our tent. While camping last summer, our tent broke. Andrew fixed it and with the remaining bungee cord from one of the poles, fashioned this bracelet for me. It reminds me of the camping trips we took while we were dating and makes me happy whenever I look at it.

Can I just start over?

I know, it's been forever. And I feel terribly guilty (which is part of the reason I have avoided this page like the plague -- fear of facing that guilt). But here I am. I've been busy. Here is a little of what we've been up to:

Both twins were actually here in AR at the same time (and the world almost imploded). The Order was able to reunite for about a week. I needed that week desperately. I forget how much those girls are a part of who I am and where I come from. I needed that reminder.

We got to have our traditional birthday celebration @ Chuck E. Cheese

We attended the viewing of the films submitted for the 2010 Little Rock 48 Hour Film Festival. K & L, along with their brother, produced a film that is pretty fantastic. Beautiful, actually. I know I'm a little biased, but even if I weren't obsessed with the parties involved, this would probably still have been my favorite. I should be appearing on YouTube soon. I'll post a link as soon as it's available.

I've applied for some pretty promising opportunities that I am hoping to hear about this week. And in the meantime, I've been reading anything and everything I can get my hands on. The list of books I've read this year thus far has been growing rapidly. It's becoming rather lengthy.

We've got a few other exciting opportunities in the works. Maybe. I'll let you know more when I can.

Oh and tonight I watched a documentary on the life and works of Simon Wiesenthal, architect turned Nazi hunter, entitled I Have Never Forgotten You. It is incredible. He was an amazing man. I am adding his memoirs, The Murderers Among Us, to my must read list. I highly recommend that documentary. He did remarkable things with his life.

And we've taken the plunge and gone completely vegetarian. It's not that I have a problem with eating meat (I actually had chicken at lunch today with the girls), it's just I've always been weird when it comes to eating certain things, especially meat. Red meat gives me migraines so for the last year or so I've been eating chicken exclusively but lately, we've just become so incredibly aware of so many problems with the mistreatment of animals, including chickens, that we've just reached our breaking point and can no longer look the other way. And so while we do love meat, we've decided that this personal decision is more important than our appetites. I'm still not sure how I'm going to do without Chick-fil-a. Maybe I will just become a Chick-fil-arian.

Order of the 4 Night

Today Andrew came home early from work and when he was feeling a little better, we had Larry's Pizza for dinner. Then Kat came over and we had an internet date with Kristin and Lauren since Kristin is in Seoul visiting Lauren.

Then the 4 of us (Kat, Gary, Andrew, & I) played Taboo and Kat and I won.

Also, we booked our hotel in Dublin this afternoon. Check it out:

http://www.paramounthotel.ie/

Order of the 4 Live!

Tonight was date night with Krit, Kat, and Rim. Rim was having technical difficulties and we didn't get to see much of her. But we did get to spend a long while chatting with Kristin. We even got to jam out to some old school Destiny's Child together. And don't worry, I have video. Rim, I'm sorry our fun was short lived, but we'll just have to try it again when you move into your new place and get internet and a microphone.

Andrew went with Hippo tonight to see the new Star Trek movie. And to quote him directly, it was "perfect".

I also made some homemade chocolate chip cookies from my mother's recipe tonight. They were delicious.

I'm so glad it's finally the weekend. Let the slacking off begin.